Eli, The Barrow Boy
by SonicPanther-Pantherstrike
Summary: Gather ye 'round, and I'll tell you a tale set in the Mobius of 200 years ago. It starts with an echidna merchant named Eli...


1810 AD, Mobius.

A young echidna pushed his barrow full of goods through his village. He wasn't quite sure as to where he was going, but he had his mind set on venturing off to a neighboring city, Station Square, to find buyers. The echidna's name was Eli, and he lived in a small village just south of the Mystic Mountains. Eli was a traveling merchant who would travel around that world and return home with enough profit to feed his family for months, yet the next week he would set out again to sell more of his items. And that he did. His wife, Melina, did not object to this. She and their newborn son were used to his season-long journeys. Although Eli was rarely come, she would write letters to him and he would respond. It was almost like he wasn't gone after all.

Eli parked his cart on the border between Lake Grace and the city. Many people resided here and he thought it would be an ideal place to sell. He cleared his throat. "Corn cobs and candle wax for the buying! The best quality from sweet fruit to black coal!", he cried out into the late morning sky. A crowd gathered around Eli and his barrow. The echidna smiled. Another day, another dollar.

By dusk he had sold everything he had brought with him. As the streets began to clear, he set off to return home. It was the shortest trip he had ever taken, it usually took him weeks to sell out completely. Pride and wealth overcame him, as he pushed his barrow and sang.

"Can I will afford to buy my love a fine robe,

Made of gold and silk Arabian thread.

It will not take too long until I finally do so.

'Till then I push my barrow all the day.

'Till then I push my barrow all the day."

While he was walking, an armadillo carrying a heavy sack came towards him. Eli stopped. It must be the mail carrier, he thought. Melina wrote me a letter.

The mail carrier walked up to his barrow. "Are you Eli of the Village of Lutari?", he asked.

"Why, yes I am.", said Eli, smiling. "Do you have a letter for me?"

"Yes I do, sir.", the armadillo handed him an envelope. "Err... Good 'eve." He ran off.

Eli opened up the envelope and read the letter. He read it aloud into the lonely night sky. "Hello, Eli!", he began. "I hope you have already sold most of your goods, and that you will return home soon. I'll be going up to the mountains tomorrow with little Jasper. He sends his love, by the way." Eli snickered and wondered how a small baby would even notice him not being there. "I'll paint one of my landscape portraits while I'm there. I'll send it to you if you don't return soon. Best of luck! Love, Melina." He put the letter inside his empty barrow and continued pushing throughout the night.

----

By noon the next day he reached this home again. His fellow villagers were awfully qiuet, most of them looked quite sad. Eli didn't understand, usually when he returned he was greeted by all his neighbors with great resect. Today nobody said a word. He walked up to his house and tried to open the door. It was locked. "Melina sill must be by the mountains with Jasper still", he said to himself. He was about to walk north to where his family was at the moment, but he stepped ona piece of paper set in the middle of his doorstep. It was a letter.

"Dear Mr. Eli,", he read. "We are terribly sorry that you must return home to this news, but tody at seven 'o clock in the morning...", he stopped and stared at the paper. "Ms. Melina and baby Jasper fell into Mystic River. A team was sent to save them, but by the time they arrived, it was too late. They had drowned. Their bodies have been buried in the pine grove. We aplogize for your loss. Sincerely, your neighbors from The Village of Lutari."

Eli's only resonse was to bow his head down and weep.

----

From that day on, Eli, who was usually chipper and talkative, was quiet and shy. He was usually seen wearing a white scarf and white boots, a sign of his everlasting mourning. There was no home for him to return to, so he would only push his barrow, still empty, money spent. Usually he would refill his barrow with more items to sell, but he didn't see the point any more. Eli, who was once the richest man in his village, barely had enough to eat.

Because he had nothing to sell, he would simply push his barrow and sing, as it was all he could do with his ife without a family.

"Would I could afford to buy my love a fine robe,

Made of gold and silk Arabian thread.

But she is dead and gone and lying in a pine grove.

And I must push my barrow all the day.

And I must push my barrow all the day."

A few months later, Eli decided that he would no longer live and incomplete life. With his barrow, he went to the the river where his fanily had met their demise. With a heavy heart, he knew that the only way to ease his pain was to join them. To be together with them or all eternity.

He dived in, pinning himself to the riverbed with his barrow as his lungs began to fill up with water. What he was doing didn't seem right, but he knew it was the only way. His dead body was found hours later. They buried him in a churchground just outside the village.

----

Today, the churchground Eli was buried in still lies in the city of Station Square. For 200 years citizens have reported sightings of his ghost at night. After dusk, his spirit will come out from is grave and push his barrow around the grounds, still singing.

"Would I could afford to buy my love a fine gown,

Made of gold and silk Arabian thread.

But I am dead and gone and lying in a church ground,

And still I push my barrow all the day.

Still I push my barrow all the day."

---


End file.
